Villagers commemorate the festival of Holi by walking across fire on the preceeding night. Preparations start in the morning with a large “holi” – a pile of logs set up before the village temple. In the evening, the menfolk walk up the adjoining hillock to the old cremation ground. Here they perform rituals to call on the village protectors (spirits) – the devchars. After some chanting and praying, two men suddenly fell to the ground, wriggling and turning. I’m told they were possessed by the devchar. A third man, appeared to be in two states of possession and non-possession. Villagers shouted at the devchar to manifest himself in the man. To which the spirit responded (through the man) that some village disputes were preventing the manifestation.
After a lot of heated discussions among the villagers, the three possessed men took the flame and ran down the hill and lit the “holy”. After this, they ran right through the entire village, torch in hand, ostensibly possessed. This is a ritual followed over centuries in many villages. How they manage to get the stamina to run through the village is remarkable.
In the wee hours, on the day of Holi, the embers of the holi bon-fire are spread out and the menfolk run across it, barefeet. They are then followed by even women and children. I acutally saw a woman, holding an infant, run barefeet across the fire. In most cases, there were no visible burn marks.
Later, the three possessed men sit before the temple and answer individual questions of the villagers. These include problems between neighbours, personal and family problems and even career issues. I’m told, people believe these questions are directly answered by the “protector” of the village.
This seems an interesting concept as far as unity and harmony in a village are concerned as this is one occasion where village disputes are addressed.